Slammers Get Past Knights 17-6

Presley Field Holds a Slammers
baserunner at first.

The Strike One Sports Slammers lived up to their name Monday night in a 17-6 victory against the Marietta Knights at Larry Bell Park. The Knights were somewhat shell shocked as the Slammers blasted line drive after line drive into the outfield off of some of the Knights' top pitchers. Slammers' pitchers also threw harder than any team the Knights have faced this season. On the plus side, the Knights got RBI hits from George Krivsky and Hunter Williamson. The tough man award for the night goes to Jack Rinehimer without question. In the 2nd inning, the fastest fastball that we have seen all season hit Jack solidly in the back. It was certainly the scariest HBP we've had this season (the 2nd scariest would be 2 batters later when Garrett Wells had the wind knocked out of him when he took an equally blazing heater in the back off of the same pitcher). Jack, like Garrett, refused a courtesy runner and stayed in the game. In the 4th, Jack was on the mound and was hit flush again with a low line drive. After the ball bounced off his leg, Jack recovered it and fired on to first for the out before crumpling to the ground in pain. Red shoes or not, Coach Rob will no longer call this tough guy Dorothy (But Nemo is still on the table). The Knights will have to regroup quickly as they travel to Cartersville for the USSSA Champs Wear the Rings Tournament this weekend.



Garrett Wells Mans Second Base

Knights Upset Southern Prospect

 

The Marietta Knights celebrate a hard fought, well earned
victory. And yes Forrest, it was definitely epic.

The Marietta Knights took out the Southern Prospect 9-4 Sunday evening at Larry Bell Park. It was a great game all around for Marietta who got outstanding starting pitching from Robby Bryan, big hitting from the entire lineup, a cold blooded save from little Jack Rinehimer and great defense throughout the game especially when it counted most.

Tristan Herrera set the defensive tone early recording all 3 outs of the 1st on 2 unassisted grounders and a pop fly at 1B. But with two hits Southern still took a 1-0 lead. JD Rinehimer got the Knights offense started once again. After a leadoff walk, JD stole 2nd and 3rd allowing him to score on a grounder to 3B. Without the benefit of a hit, the Knights knotted it at 1-1 after 1. Southern took a 2-1 lead in the 2nd thanks to their second triple of the game and held the Knights scoreless with a 1-2-3 inning.

The Prospect carried a 3-1 lead into the bottom of the 3rd when the Knights' bats came alive. Tristan led off with a double followed by a line drive single to RF off the bat of Gil Hastings. After a gut wrenching double play, the Knights still trailed 3-2 with Robby on 2B when Jack hit a single into the LCF gap. Southern's CF made a nice play to scoop the ball and fire it as Robby rounded 3rd. The Prospect made a perfect relay throw and the catcher blocked the plate and applied the tag. But when the dust settled the ball was sitting alone in the batter's box and Robby had one hand on the plate. 3-3 after 3.

Robby ended his night by sitting the Prospect down 1-2-3 in the 4th with 2 strikeouts. His final line, 4 IP, 3 R, 2 ER, 5 K's and 1 BB. Patrick Reddick celebrated his birthday by knocking in Garrett Wells to give the Knights their first lead of the game. Presley Field knocked in Patrick and the Knights took a 5-3 lead into the 5th and called on Jack to try to protect the slim lead.

After a lead-off walk and an error Southern cut the lead to 5-4 and had the tying run on 2nd with no outs. With the runner on 2nd stealing, the batter hit a looping fly ball towards 3B. Garrett Wells made a lunging catch in foul territory and turned and threw a strike to 2B knowing that Hunter Williamson, his teammate dating back to their first season in the Shetland League, would be there. Double play. Southern put the tying run on once again with a 2 out single. The next batter hit a hard grounder to short that JD calmly scooped and tossed to Hunter at 2B to end the top of the 5th with the Knights clinging to a 5-4 lead.



With Apologies to Skip Carey,
KNIGHTS WIN! KNIGHTS WIN!
KNIGHTS WIN!

Although the dugout and bleachers were raucous, Knights' batters calmly added 4 insurance runs including a 2 run single from George Krivsky in the bottom of the 5th as time expired. Marietta Knights 9, Southern Prospect 4. Robby Bryan got the win and Jack Rinehimer got the save. It was a great win for the boys and their fans who have been incredibly supportive throughout the season. After taking this weekend off, the Knights will take on the Kennesaw Strike One Slammers at home on Monday, April 30th.



Garrett Wells had 2 RBI's

George Krivsky went 2 for 3
with an RBI

Although the Marietta Knights' bats were explosive at Centennial HS on Saturday, it was their defense that blew up in an 18-7 loss to the Centennial HS Jr. Knights. Knights' pitchers struggled to throw strikes while their fielders had problems with routine balls in play. Luckily, the Marietta offense had a strong day. Jack Rinehimer, Hunter Williamson and George Krivsky each went 2 for 3 to lead the Knights. Jack added 3 stolen bases and 2 runs. Hunter stole 5 bases, scored once and had an RBI and George brought in an RBI. Garrett Wells had 2 RBI's for Marietta. The Defensive Effort of the Game: Coach Rob made the questionable decision to put the team's youngest player on the mound with the bases loaded and only 1 out in the 4th. Jack answered by getting two outs on 3 pitches to get Marietta out of the inning. The Knights hope to bounce back against Southern Prospect at home on Sunday.

Knights Battle Titans to the Wire in Alpharetta

George Krivsky and Hunter Williamson
each had RBI hits to pace the Knights

The Marietta Knights went toe to toe with the mighty Alpharetta Titans Saturday afternoon at Wills Park before falling 12-7. The independent, Single A Knights were heavy underdogs to the AAA Titans who hail from one of the largest parks in Georgia.  


Marietta put 2 on the board in the top of the 1st on big hits from JD Rinehimer, Tristan Herrera and Garrett Wells. The lead evaporated quickly as the Titans' big bats and some suspect defense allowed Alpharetta to jump out to a 5-2 lead after 1. It looked like it would be a long evening. But the Knights closed the gap in the top of the second when George Krivsky hit a blast into CF that scored Presley Field from first. Despite getting bruised when Coach Rob smacked him a little too hard after the big hit, George was still able to take home moments later on a wild pitch to cut the lead to 5-4.

The bottom of the 2nd went 3 up and 3 down with a JD strikeout and big catches in the outfield by George and Presley. JD led off the 3rd with a single and stole 2nd, 3rd and home to tie the game at 5. With 2 outs, Hunter Williamson put the Knights back in front 6-5 with a big single to RF that scored Tristan. Alpharetta regained the lead for good with 2 runs each in the 3rd and 4th innings but great pitching by JD and several strong defensive plays allowed the Knights to stay close.



JD Rinehimer had a great day on the mound and at the plate
for the Knights

JD went the distance on the mound for the Knights, striking out 4 and only walking 1. JD threw a remarkable 76% strikes. He faced 24 batters and only threw 15 balls to go with 48 strikes. JD also went 3 for 3 at the plate with a 2B and 3 runs scored. There were 2 defensive plays of the game that both ended innings. In the 3rd, a Titans batter hit a hard line drive toward the RCF gap that looked to be at least a double until Jack Rinehimer went up the ladder and made a great catch at SS to rob the Titan of a hit. In the 4th, another Titan batter thought he had a big blast until Patrick Reddick snatched it out of the air in CF and fired back to 2B to double off the baserunner and get the Knights out of a jam.

Coach Rob was very proud of the team's effort in their most complete game of the season and accepted congratulations from several parents on his way to the post game meeting with the team. He expected to find the players equally excited about the way they played against the AAA Titans. However, when he met up with the players in the bullpen they were FURIOUS! There was no excitement, only anger that they'd lost. There was alot of talk about mistakes they had made and what they need to do better to get a win. Coach Rob was thrilled! The boys had no interest in a moral victory. He reminded the boys what a great game they'd played and told them he can't wait until next Saturday when he gets the take the field with these awesome kids again.

The Knights travel to Centennial High School in Roswell next Saturday to play the Centennial Jr. Knights. On Sunday, the Knights will host a double header with the Southern Prospects at Larry Bell Park.

Coyotes Outlast Knights at Bell Park

The Marietta Knights played their old friends the Cobb Coyotes tough on Monday night at home, but could not come up with the big hits they needed and ultimately fell short 7-1. The Knights got a great pitching performance from Robby Bryan who went the distance only allowing 1 Earned Run on 4 hits with 3 strike outs. Robby threw a season high 68.6% strikes. The Knights loaded the bases twice but were only able to scratch across a single run. Jack Rinehimer stole 4 bases on the night and Hunter Williamson swiped 2. Hunter and JD Rinehimer each hauled in 2 flyballs and Garrett Wells caught one to go along with an assist. The defensive play of the night came when Hunter made a sliding catch in foul territory to end the 4th with a runner in scoring position.

After the game Coach Rob noted how proud he is of this team's toughness. "We've seen alot of our opponents writhing around on the ground and alot of tears, but our guys just jump up, wave off the coaches and take their base." After taking a fastball in the ribs, Big Game Hunter had to pause a few steps into his jog to first, but he waved off Coach Rob and Coach David as he bent over to collect himself and quickly took his base. Meanwhile, Gil Hastings got beaned for the 5th time this season (new league record!) and took 1st without fanfare like he always does. This has been the Knights' way all season.

Nickname Change Notice: Jack Rinehimer will now be known as Dorothy after showing up last night in a brand new pair of bright red cleats. Jack was formerly known as Nemo for his habit of getting caught in the net when entering and leaving the batting cage. Although we may decide to stick with Nemo, every time Jack gets to first we will definitely encourage him to click his heels together and say, "there's no place like home!"

No Sign of the Lion or the Tin Man